Expanding Behavioral Health Care Workforce Participation in Medicare, Medicaid, and Marketplace Plans

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and Health and Medicine Division and Board on Health Care Services and Committee on Strategies to Improve Access to Behavioral Health Care Services through Medicare and Medicaid

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Synopsis: About 20 percent of all Americans live with a behavioral health condition, but only half of this population receives treatment — with direct consequences that include poor physical health outcomes, increased health care costs, and reduced quality of life and life span. Barriers to obtaining behavioral health treatment are most evident in populations receiving Medicare, Medicaid, and Marketplace plans. Behavioral health care providers serving individuals enrolled in these plans are more likely to experience challenges around reimbursement and training, which disincentivizes participation. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration asked the National Academies to convene an expert committee to examine current challenges in ensuring broad access to evidence-based behavioral health care services through Medicare, Medicaid, and Marketplace programs and propose strategies to address those challenges.